The late addition of “God” and “Jerusalem” to the Democratic platform was an embarrassment to democracy. It was an embarrassment first because those who voted against it were clearly in the majority. But it was foremost an embarrassment because of its cynical calculation that kowtowing to God and Jerusalem is an effective campaign strategy.
In a recent blog, I argued that religion is, very often, political and that it should not be, but often is, ignored and marginalized by Western, liberal, secular media and politicians. Religion is as politically salient as economics and morality. At about the same time, distinguished social scientist Scott Atran had the prescience to publish an article with a similar thesis and some similar points in Foreign Policy. Atran writes:
Consider the tragedy in Aurora. James Holmes, as far as we know, acted alone and of his own accord. He was not instructed to kill by a higher power or by a religious leader. He seems to have been acting out a scene in a Batman movie with himself playing the Joker. We will likely never know the reason why, armed to the teeth, he opened fire in a theatre and killed a dozen innocent people and wounded 58 more. Besides, what reason could he give that would make us stop and say, “Oh, so that’s why he killed twelve innocent people. Now I get it.”
